Unexpected Meeting
by Pocket-sized Writer
Summary: Correcting and updating.
1. Chapter 1: Unexpected Meeting

"Requesting Ene's support! I repeat, requesting Ene's support!" He called out through his headset, trying to reach his teammate. Playing his favorite game, Dead Bullet'1989, made him feel the adrenaline rush that made him feel alive but right now he was terrified after realizing that he was in deep trouble. He needed someone to restore his health which was pretty low after killing three enemies of the opposite team and his teammate, Ene, was the only one left alive from their team beside him. All of his other teammates had died after being ambushed by the enemy team, only Ene and him were able to escape the bloodiest massacre in history of Dead Bullet'1989. The game itself was massacre, the setting was in the streets of Japan after a zombie outbreak and two groups of people fight for the territory were they fight but the territory was different every time. Sometimes it was a neighborhood near the coastline or near the mall where zombies hanged out. Different places every time and different time of the day, night was hell in the game. You never knew where the enemies were even if you had high levels of stealth, the night made everything harder than it is.

"Requesting Ene's support! Ene, I need you to restore my health like right now. I'm near a destroyed building in outskirts of the town" he called out, desperately trying to reach his teammate in time before the enemy finds him and kills him. Shintaro wondered many times why he still had Ene in his team every time even though she always goes solo while the others kill in group but he already knew the answer for that.

Lightning Dancer Ene aka Ene, was known for her ultimate move, Phantom Waltz Holy Nightmare that killed multiple enemies at the same time and she had placed 2nd in the annual . She invented the move after playing a couple of time, her reputation rose rabidly. Honesty, Shintaro appreciated her help sometimes until she went on killing sprees or rant about random stuff she discovered. Shintaro still waited for his teammate respond over the headset, hiding behind a large trash bin besides the deteriorating building. His character was covered in black head to toe except for his eyes which were blood red, making him look intimidating. Another reason why he liked playing Dead Bullet'1989, he could personalize his character however he liked.

"Are you hiding from the debt collectors? How much money do you owe? I can lent you money ShinShin!"

"Ene. Stop messing around, why would debt collectors be in the game after a zombie outbreak?"

"You never know~"

"Whatever. Just come and help me. Now"

"You know, you could be a bit nicer when you ask for my help! It's not like I help any other newbie around the game. In other words...be graceful you baka! "A sweet voice answered back through the headset. In the screen, a girl walked around the street where Shintaro hid. Holding her both of her guns in each hand as she walked around, pointing her guns at everything that moved. She lower her guns and put on away while she brushed her azure bangs off her face. For some reason, Ene had chosen her character to look way to innocent to be a killer. Her character had huge blue eyes and hair. She wore azure jacket that was sizes too big, having her sleeves dangling as she moved, and a black skirt that reached mid thighs.

Shintaro slowly crept out of his hiding spot, carefully tipped toe his way behind the girl but quickly found him faced with a gun. Soon Ene recognized him, lowering her gun down but only to hit him on the gut. "You, idiot! I almost killed you. If I did I would had to kill all those enemies left by myself. Leaving a poor defenseless girl in a enemy territory, what do you have to say for yourself? "

"That I do not care at all." He answered back, rubbing his stomach to relieve some pain that she caused. He knew that it was harmless but only seeing his character get hit it mad- "Hey! Where are you going? Come back here, Ene!" He called out, seeing her walk away with both of her guns on her hands again.

"Nope! Until you ask nicely and say," she cleared her throat before continuing, "Oh Ene-sama! Please restore my pathetic character's health. I beg you!" She mimicked Shintaro but a bit too high for his voice.

He chuckled softly, Shintaro would have to be threatened before he added sama to her name. Ene knew how to play well but she still had flaws in her gaming skills. Like her famous move, Phantom Waltz Holy Nightmare, last battle she had ran out of ammunition before she could finish her move and only killed a fourth of the enemies she could kill with that move. Or her newest move yet, Phantom Sakura Dance which had way too many fla-

"Fine! Ignore me, I'll go my separate way while you go your way and get killed by the enemy" she giggled.

Ene strolled off the opposite side that Shintaro stood, waving her gun to him as she turned the corner of the street.

"Ene! Stop joking around, come back here. If you don't restore my health then you'll be alone to face all the rest of the enemies" he called out.  
He tried to follow the same path Ene had strolled off but he only found a empty street with no one around.

"Damnit! Where did Ene go? That little..."

He heard giggling through his headphones before he could registered who it was, "Silly ShinShin. I'll restore your health but you better give me all your good gu..." she trailed off. A couple of minutes past but still no answer through the headset.

He tried to call her out, "Uh Ene-sama?" Until he heard gunshots three streets away from where he was. He tried to find her but the battlefield was too big to identify where the gunshots came from. Ene probably stopped talking to concentrate on killing the enemies but who was he kidding? She could multitask easily, in fact he has seen it with his own eyes. Once she went on rampage while she talked over the headset with their teammates including him, after that everybody knew not to mess with Ene or else.

He checked in the team members tab if she was still on. She was but it seems that she was killed by the opposite team. Her endless rant will begin in One, two and thr-

"Those bastards-Dammit! They killed me, Shin-Shin! You must avenge me! Kill all of them for me! Make them regret of laying their gun on me, snap thier necks or something! ShinShin! Do something!" She cried. Sometimes she was very melodramatic but he guess that was why he liked her. She kept things interesting for him

"Calm down! Which one do you want me to kill first?" He strolling around the huge maze of streets, waiting for her to calm down and stop ranting about her death.

Shintaro walked past a trailed of blood and found it odd so he began to follow the trail, maybe it led him to Ene's body. The bloody trail ended at Ene's body spread on the concrete of the street, her twin ponytails were dyed with her blood. He backed down after seeing the enemy walked near her body.

"Wait...I see your body", but the enemy scotching down and up as if it was,"...is he..Ew. The enemy is raping you. Hah!"

"Shin! Don't laugh and kill them! Avenge my death!" She cried.

"Yeah I'll-" Shintaro was about to raise his gun at the enemy when her sister called him.

**"Shintaro! Lunch's ready! Mom made your favorite! "**

He groaned pathetically after hearing his sister called out to him. He wanted to continue playing with Ene but his mom had made his favorite which was spaghetti, he never liked choosing over two things he liked the best. His stomach growled loudly, immediately answering the question. He needed to eat. He walked to a save place which was jumping inside a trash can. Not the best choice but enemies never thought about the opposite team hiding in trash cans.

"Sorry Ene. I gotta go. I'll sign in later."

"Fine. But you-Wait I think I won't be able to sign in later because I have some 'business' to do. Until then I'll go kill the guy that just raped my body"

"Ah okay. Then see you tomorrow at the same time. ShinShin Out!"

"Bye ShinShin~!" He heard before quitting the game, the game took him to the main screen and he logged out. Shintaro knew her sister well enough to know she was going to dig around to find his "only friend". He pressed the middle button in the controller, making the console turn off, Shintaro liked the idea of having to turn the console off with the controller instead of getting up and turning it off. He took his headphones (with the microphone included) and left them on the floor.

He stood up, stretching his arms and legs out still holding the controller, playing all afternoon made his arms sore. In fact, today seem like a typical normal Saturday for him. Woke up, had breakfast, ignored his sister while studying for his upcoming test, and spend the rest of the afternoon playing with Ene. His life was pretty boring if you asked him, he knew everything needed to know.

Playing online with Ene was always entertaining for the fact that she was so random. When they first met online through Dead Bullet'198, Ene had killed both of them with a giant tank and blamed him for it. Then they always ended up in the same team and survived until the very end. After that they team up to kill any guy that had good weapons to keep. They never talked about their personal life while playing online, the closet they been to asking about their lives was how their day went or how they were.

Shintaro walked to the dresser and hid the controller in the third drawer right under his underwear to keep his sister from using his PlayStation to search about his stupid reality show or to find who Ene was. By mistake once he forgot to close his door so Momo had heard all of their conversations while they played online and tried asking him questions about her that he didn't even wondered about. He grabbed his drink that was sitting on the table, knowing that his sister made one of her famous flavored water stuff. Note to self, never ever drink that again unless you are getting a kidney surgery.

"Shintaro-baka! Come down already! Stop playing with your girlfriend and come downstairs to eat!" Her high pitch voice echoed through the house, he growled inwardly. Why did he have to have such an idol for a sister? He only wanted to have a normal life, normal job, a normal family and whatnot.

But his family already made that impossible for him, his parents were divorce, his father is a lawyer and his mom is a nurse that works overtime. His sister is a very famous idol known all over Japan and is going to have a TV show soon. And for him, he had to an IQ of (33) making him the smart one of the family.

Shintaro headed downstairs, holding his drink under his arm, while checking in his phone about any new free items that could get in any of the games he had. Sadly, he found no new e-mails informing him of such news. He put it away and walked into the kitchen, his mother and sister, Momo, were already eating lunch.

"We started without you dear. Please seat down and eat. I need to talk to you after we're finish"

"Uh okay" Shintaro sat down across from them and started eating while his sister started talking how her day went. He wondered what his mom would want to talk about, he hasn't done anything illegal or bad.  
So what could she want to talk about? He took his phone out and searched online like always, to entertain himself while he ate. Sometimes his normal life bored him, more when he knew all the answers to everything until Ene came along. She came up with craziest questions and challenges that he couldn't answer.

The rest of the lunch went by quick and it was Shintaro's turn to wash the dishes. He was picking the dishes up when his mom started helping him.

"Shintaro, Could you do me a favor this evening? "She asked, putting the rest of the dishes in the sink, filled with bubbly water. His mind knew well enough that his mother wanted him to do something for her.

"What could that be, mom?" He wondered, moving to the sink beside his mom, who was now washing the dishes.

"Well you see a friend of mine wants to have a girl's night out but need someone to take care of her daughter so I was wondering if you could babysit for her daughter."

"Sure mom. But in exchange finish the rest of the dishes" he answered. He didn't feel like washing dishes so she could do them in return.

"Thanks son. She'll drop the kid off at 7:30 so make the house look appropriate and by appropriate I mean no dirty clothes anywhere on the floor." His mom said, washing the last of the pile of dishes.

Shintaro glanced at the clock over the stove and read, "6:30pm ". He only had one hour left before the kid came over and had to take all the dirty clothes lying around the second floor.  
Once again he fell for it. He had to agree to take care of some kid...again. But the only thing he hoped that it wasn't a noisy brat that won't let him play online. The first time her mother asked him for a favor, it was taking care of Mom went she was a baby. She never stopped crying.

Shintaro cleaned the living room, the kitchen, and his room to make it look presentable and only taking thirty minutes to do it. He fell on the couch from exhaustion, he never clean something so fast in his life. He yawned, stretching once again, to keep his arms and legs from falling asleep.

"Yeah. Yes. I know. Yeah I'm coming but be sure to be right outside my house. Bye Marry-chan!" He heard his sister end the conversation with Mary, one of Momo's friends, walking downstairs with a bag over her shoulder.

"Where are you going Momo? I thought you said you weren't going to stay at Mary's house today" He asked.

"After I heard mom you were going to babysit a kid I decided to stay at hers. I don't want to hear you crying when you get sick of it" she giggled, brushing her bangs off her face.

"Very funny, Momo. Don't sleep late or you'll look horrible for tomorrow's photo shoot"

"Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for reminding me, Mom" She sneered, walking past the couch and out the house.

Soon enough he was falling asleep when the doorbell rang. He lazily stood up and walked to the door not bothering to check if his hair was mess up. He opened the door to find a very attractive woman in their door step.

"By any chance, Is this the Kisaragi Residence?" She asked as if to see if she got the right address or person.

"Yes ma'am." Shintaro told her politely.

_"Probably mom's friend..."_

"Mom! Your friend is here!" He yelled inside the house, calling his mom to talk to his friend so he could continue his nap.

"I'm coming. Let her in, don't let her wait in the doorsteps" His mom called out.

He invited her inside and walked inside, right behind her a girl no older than fourteen followed her inside. They both sat down on the couch that was right beside the wall, the woman looked around while the girl just continued to play with her phone. The girl had identical twin pigtails that reached past her shoulders and caramel eyes that suit her hair. She wore a black jacket with yellow lines around the top of the sleeves, an electric yellow skirt that stopped at mid-thigh and some red converse. If she had worn a gas mask, he would have thought she was a spy from some place to steal info from Japan.

"Thank you so much for babysitting my daughter. I can't leave her alone at home because she'll forget anything once she's inside her room with all of her games. Once she forgot to eat all day and his brother, Haruka, had to drag her out" She thanked him.

He nodded understating the "problem" with the girl, way back when he first started playing online games. Finding everything troublesome because he would have to stop playing.

_The girl liked online games, huh? I bet she sucks like all the girls do.._

"Mom. Do I seriously have to stay with this dofus? I can perfectly take care of myself" The brunette growled, as she took her ear buds out. Her voice sounded familiar but he couldn't put his finger where he heard it from. Wait did she just call him dofus?

"Dofus? I probably got a higher test grades than you ever have gotten all your life" Shintaro blurted, standing up from the couch without thinking, what the hell was with the girl's problem?

"Suree. I bet you just spend all your time in your room like a NEET you are. Loser!" She sneered, taking a step forward the boy. "I betcha all my money that you look at por-"

"TAKANE! Sit down this instance and stop disrespecting him, did I taught you to disrespect your elders? " The mother interrupted before Takane finished her sentence from the looks of it she looked pissed at her daughter. He thanked the lord that his mom wasn't always telling him what to do.

The mother shook her head disappointedly, "I thought I told you to take a nap before we came, you always have to be this irritated with everyone? Next time you don't take a nap when I tell you to, I'll confiscate all your games. Understood?"

Takane nodded while she wiped the dust off her bright yellow skirt and zipped her jacket all the way up.

_Geez, I see how she gets the mad temper. This rascal plays until she gets tired._

The girl glared at him and mouthed, "You're dead meat, loser!" before sitting once again beside her mother. Plugging his bright blood red headphones into her phone and drowning everything with her music as she slipped the headphones on.

The mother sighed in relief, she looked that she dealt with her daughter's bad temper a lot. He felt kinda bad now, the mother had to deal with her daughter's temper every day and so his brother Haruka.

"Enomoto-san, we should head out now. Let's not keep the others waiting. Shintaro, please do not go to your room you'll only distract yourself with your computer" His mom instructed, walking downstairs with her new "dazzling" outfit that Momo had chosen for her.

The girl's mother stood up gracefully, brushing any dust off her velvety red dress. "Behave kids. Especially you, Takane. I'll confiscate all your games if I get call from him. Bye again." With that both woman were out the house without any more delays.

_Well that's that and now.._

Shintaro's gaze rested upon Takane, who was glaring furiously at him and grinning at the same time. The odds weren't at his favor at all, two things would happen today. One he would die without ever being able to finish that new song he was making and leaving his studies unfished or he would run away and hide somewhere until the women came home because of safety issues.

"Dobe, I give you one option, run. " she warned as her arm reached over to her backpack she brought and took out a...water gun. She gripped the gun tightly, pointing at him, grinning before she pressed the gun.

* * *

So far her plan was working right. Takane had planned what to do when she was alone with the NEET at his home; she planned it after ShinShin logged out and went on a killing spree with the other enemy's team. She would make sure that the babysitter would regret ever taking on the job; she never through that it would be this easy. The guy for some reason didn't show any emotion other than boredom until she started fighting with him and when she took her water gun out.

Takane was going to make the guy run around the neighborhood to embarrass him but then again it wasn't his fault. Not in the slightest. Blame went to her addiction with online games, if she had a way to remember to do stuff while playing her games. There would be no problem here but nooo.

Now standing right outside what it appeared to be the bathroom of the house, she pounded the door with force. Instead of going outside the house, the idiot ran to the closest room to hide which was the bathroom.

"Come out of that damn bathroom, bastard! If you don't I'll gladly teat the door off its hedges" she warned.

She heard him snorting at her comment and called out,"Yeah right. What's a little girl going to do a stupid water gun?"

"Ha ! Says the one that's hiding inside the bathroom from the 'the little girl' " she laughed.

"I-It's because you got me corner nothing else"

"Sureeeee. Dofus~"

"Stop calling me dofus! Brat!"

Takane gasped, "I am not a brat you..you hikkomori! You only spend all your time in your room like the perv you are. Eww"

"W-What?! I don't do that! Get that in your head, brat. And second of all, I actually study for school unlike you who is probably failing classes"

"W-Well soo..?"

Soon as the door open everything went by like a flash, she was standing minutes before the door opened, pounding at the bathroom door but now she on the floor with extra weight on her. She opened her eyes and found onyx eyes looking back at her.

What the fu...

She froze when she saw the position they were in, the extra weight she felt was Shintaro who now frozen, with his hand on her chest and his leg in between her legs. A red tint appeared on her cheeks as her anger rose too.

"You are so going to die today! And I'll make sure you never born again too!" She warned, reaching for the water gun that was above her head and hit his head in the process. He scrambled to his feet, dodging every shot that Takane made. She shot the wall a couple of times until she shot the guy's shoes while he ran away from the scene.

"_Damn how could I miss when I know so much about shooting moving targets"_

"You can run but you can't hide forever, Loser! I will find you even if I have to tear down everything apart to get you"

As soon as he turned around the corner, he was struck down from the impact. He clutched his stomach as he looked at the other person from the opposite side, clutching her fist as she looked in pain.

"What the hell are you made of? Iron? What did I hi-I hit your...oh. Well it seems that maybe you do no spend all your time watchin-"

She stopped as soon as he saw him stand up and hunched over the wall, clutching his stomach. He supported himself on the wall, trying to keep his lunch down but failed to do so.

"Oh my god! How- Are you...Ha! Hold on, dude! Let me record this. Keep it going. Oh god this is so going in the internet! "

The "hikkomori" wiped his mouth after finishing throwing up his lunch, glaring at the young gamer as she stopped the recording and continued typing in her phone. Unaware of the glaring guy, she thought of a wonderful plan that both of them would benefit.

"Look. Let's make a treaty, okay?"

"Why should I agree to it?"

"Because I'll post the video of you throwing up in the internet and post it in your school website. This could ruin your reputation. "

"You don't even know what school I go to!"

"Oh you poor boy! Internet is the key to everything, I can hack into any website I want to with a click of a button~"

"Fine"

"Good! If you let me do whatever I want for the rest of the evening, I won't post video"

"And erase it"

"Yeah yeah and erase it"

"I agree but you won't make it difficult for me right?"

"Only if you don't bother me. I'll go set up my things up while you clean your mess, hehe!"

After Shintaro came back from cleaning his mess, he found a console connected to the TV and Takane going through her bag for something.

"What are you looking for?"

"My game but it seems that I didn't bring it. Seriously not cool."

"What's the name of the game? Maybe I have it"

"I doubt it, you don't seem like a guy who plays bloody games. Its Dead bullet '1999"

"You know what they always say, "Don't judge books by its covers". I do have it."

"You do?! Great go get it. Please" she added nicely.

"Fine" he responded bitterly.

Shintaro hurried himself upstairs, tripping at the last step and looked around if there was a hidden camera to catch his clumsiness. But there was none to his relief and goes to his room to get the game. He opened the console to take the disk out and quickly took it to see the girl's skills in the game. Until he started thinking what her username was, maybe he knew her and both of them played on the same team once or something. He headed downstairs slowly, thinking about the possibilities that Takane could be someone he knew while holding the disk through his index finger and twirling the disk.

Shintaro handed the disk over to Takane, who was sitting right beside her console, inserting the disk into the console them she closed the . Takane took the controller near her right and pressed the home button to turn the console on. The screen flashed the name of the console brand and took her to the home page. She moved the joystick down to go down the list of things she had stored in there until she reached the Dead Bullet'1989 game and pressed enter to continue.

The screen blacked out for a few seconds after clicking the enter button then the title screen flashed on the TV, the letters oozed blood like a living person. She clicked start, not once looking at him.

_"She looks like she is in her own little world now"_

She choose the sign in button and began typing her username down slowly, making sure that she didn't misspelled words. Shintaro's gaze looked in the username as she wrote, "Lightening Dancer Ene".

"You're Ene? You are Ene?" He sputtered, getting Takane's attention after she typed her password in. The amazing Ene was a school girl?! If the media knew this, it could be in the top of every newspaper on town and even on TV. Ene didn't seem..wait. yeah. I see were she got her random killing sprees and revenge

"Why are y-No! No. No. You can't be ShinShin! Please tell me you aren't ShinShin" she pleaded.

"I am."

"Damnit. I didn't meant to hit you or fol-"

"Is the great Ene apologizing? I thought I'll never see that in my life"

"Shut up! I'm trying to be nice but forget it loser"

"Nice to hear the Ene I know. Should we take turns playing or what do you suggest we do?"

"That's sounds like a great idea! But if you die too many times, I'll kill you myself. Newbie!"

* * *

Akane Kisaragi did not expected to be in an awkward position when she entered her home after telling Nagisa, Takane's mom, that she'll tell Takane that her mother was waiting outside. She opened the door carefully, not wanting to wake the kids up if they were asleep but she heard an unexpected conversation after entering the house. She walked closer to the living room without making noise and hid behind the wall, listening on Takane and Shintaro's conversation.

"What are you doing, stupid? Don't go inside yet, you need to prepare yourself first?" She blurted out. Akane could hear the uncertainty in her voice.

"I know what I'm doing. I been doing this for weeks now" Shintaro reassured her that he knew what he was doing.

"For weeks?! Since when did his little boy grow up?"

"Don't do it like that! You're going to ge-" Takane scolded him, Akane heard a smack.

"I know I know" he repeated.

Akane Kisaragi never expected to hear this conversation going on with his son, Shintaro and Takane. She knew that both of them were hormonal teens and everything but the idea of them having that in the living room never crossed her mind. She raised Shintaro with morals and all but for him to have "that" with a girl younger than him. Akane Kisaragi never thought she would be in the position that she did not know what to do but his son could impregnate the young girl and it would be a scandal for his father and her if it got out in the public.

"I'll do it your way after you let me waste a couple of loads."

"Fine but enter slowly unles-"

Akane could not let his son make a mistake that could ruin his whole future, she walked beside the wall and peaked inside the living room but froze seeing his son and Takane. Takane lay on the coach on her stomach while his son sitting down leaning against the couch, his hand preoccupied with the controller. She laughed at her quickly conclusions about their conversation, they meant the game that he bpught Shintaro a few weeks ago. It was something about killing zombies or something. So a few loads..oh that made so much sense.

"SHINTARO! You idiot! I told you enter slowly or they'll notice you! Now give me that controller, it's my turn!"

"No. Its your fault that they caught me."

"I'll post that video on the website~" She hinted. Shintaro paled when she mentioned the some video to him.

"Fine. But only one round" He cautiously grumbled under his breath.

"I knew you'll come around" Takane giggled. Shintaro slowly gave her the controller but he pulled back at the last second after seeing her standing behind the wall and peaking.

"As if I'll do th-Mom? What are you doing here? I mean why are you so early?" She opened her mouth to anwer but Takane quickly smacked his head and said. "Its already nine o clock, dofus. " He rubbed his head to relief the pain while Takane stole the controller from him. Akane laughed how strangely their kids behaved around each other as if they already knew each other in years.

_"Maybe they met throught the game...Nah. Too much of a coincidence. "_


	2. Chapter 2: Unexpected Blackout Part I

**_"Everything is alright…they'll be here any minute now….just have to wait….for them….everything is fine…"_**

_Her words were reassuring but held no emotion, the unstop mantra she pronounced all over again and again as if believing it would make it come true but she knew it wouldn't which terrified her even more, she feared she'll be left alone in the forest until the thunderstorm disappeared and the thought was terrifying. The red scarlet sundress she wore was now drenched and freezing, it clung onto her and almost felt like a second skin. Now her eagerness to be different from the other girls was gone, and more than ever did she desire to wear that ugly green jumpsuit all of the other girls wore and at least have some protection against the cold wind. The wind howled louder than ever, trees swayed side to side bumping into each other's branches and the gray clouds wept from above her head slow but chilled._

_The ground gave a shake as lighting struck somewhere near her, she shrieked at the sudden loudness of the thunder then whimpered like a wounded animal, her back met a hard and yet bumpy stone wall when she tried to back away more from the noise. She covered her eyes with her hands as she lay her head on her knees gently as possible to avoid touching her bruised knees roughly and repeated once again the mantra. Blood was smeared all over her forearms and legs but it didn't matter__**,"It all be washed away by the rain",**__he whispered to herself. Her body trembled as she felt the bitter cold wind against her skin._

_**"Please…I'll be good from now on…mommy…I don't wanna die here…not alone…please."**__ Her mantra had turned into begging for anything, a miracle or a sign that God was real but anything was good for her, she didn't want to be there any longer. Warm tears slide down her cheeks, it felt nice against her skin compared to the cold raindrops, wailed loud for both of her parents who were probably happy inside their summer cabin, and her big'o teddy bear she kept inside her closet and denied its existence. A cold hand wrapped around her shoulder and she screamed for hel-_

Takane jolted awake from her bed, gasping for air as if she barely made it out of water, that cold feeling crept up her spine and she shivered automatically. She sat there for a moment as if to take everything in and recognize that she was in no danger but the feeling was still there. "That dream again…" She sighed faintly, nightmares were always her insecurities and her memories that she wished to never remember, and times like this she wished to never sleep and return to those memories. A knock interrupted her thoughts, "Honey, are you okay? I heard you screaming minutes ago, do you want me to call the doctor?"

The "Doctor" was her therapist that has been taking care of her ever since that incident, Dr. Tateyama, one of the most known therapist known in the area and took his patients that intrigued his interest, most of his patients did not pay the visits like her and only had to pay for whatever medication she had to take. Dr. Tateyama took interest in her after the local news reported a missing child case and was there when the police had found her in the woods during the thunderstorm.

"Takane? Are you still there?" She worriedly asked, knocking once again. The knocking echoed inside her room a bit too loud for her sensitive ears, Takane flinched at the sound and ripped tangled bed sheets off her since it stuck on her like glue. She thought if she opened her mouth all of what she dreamed and her thoughts would pour out and her mom would make her go to more visits or worst, sending her to a madhouse. She carefully chose what she was going to say before opening her mouth, she didn't want to worry her mother even more than she did now so she stuck to her usual chirpy self. Not the annoying/cute self when she felt actually happy, the chirpy self she used around her family, teachers and classmates. She faked smiles and laughs just to look normal as possible just like everyone else her age, she didn't need more problems to add to her list. She opened her mouth and faked smile just to be sure her mother believed it even though she was a door away.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Geez, mom. I'm not six anymore, don't worry. I saw a cockroach and scream, nothing more." She lied. Freaking about bugs was normal for girls although Takane was fascinated by them but sacrifices had to be made and she knew her mother wouldn't question her sudden fright for bugs.

"Remember it's just a bug, things like that don't harm people. Be ready in thirty minutes, and don't take any longer. We are already late as it is" She told Takane, her footsteps got softer and softer until she couldn't hear them anymore.

"I know. I know." She glanced at the door before getting ready to fake another happy day in her life.

* * *

When Shintaro said if his day could get any worse was a rhetorical question not a challenge, whoever it made his day worse and he wasn't in the mood to take care of any annoying person including his sister. His mother had woken him up at six am just to take out the trash out and after he was made to wash the dishes since his mother couldn't, she was supposed to be in at six but she always had friend that covered her. He tried to go back to sleep but it did not work, he was forced to go to the kitchen to tried Momo's food which was very uneatable.

Momo was trying to impress a guy in her class with her cooking skill although she followed the recipe, it came out wrong. He wished the guy good luck and a health insurance, luckily he wouldn't die from food poisoning. At eleven, he was taken out of his room by no other than her friend, Ayano Tateyama, who had to go shopping and need a "man" to help her carry the bags. They walked for more than an hour inside the supermarket and checking the difference between different kinds of produce as in the cans and meat, it was tedious, soon enough she had dropped him off at his house at 3 pm. Momo then became his problem again.

"Why can't drop me off at Marry's? You can drive and use the van we have in garage, and leave it where it was. No harm done." She whined, sitting right beside him on the couch as her hands let go of her bags on the floor and gave a big 'thump'. Shintaro's gaze never left the TV, he prefer watching the stupid news than to see his sister and get the irresistible doggy eyes she did and get him to drive her to Marry's.

"Tell her to come and pick you up." He answered back monotone, the forecast had started right before he answered, giving her a shrug to keep her off his back. He raised the volume as a sign for Momo to shut up and let him listen to the news, she understood it but kept talking anyways. He ignored her and continued watching the news, only focusing what the reporter had to say even if it was one of those stupid statistics on food that makes you skinner or how well you can read upside down.  
"And for today, we have a high probability of thunderstorms so if you are planning to go outside then have your handy umbrella, with this we conclude our forecast. Back to you, Brandon! In other news..."

Shintaro cursed under his breath as soon he heard the thunderstorms, it just had to be thunderstorms, and he dislike it because of the obvious reasons. Lights went out every time lightning hit near an electricity pole or hit it, no light which meant no TV and no TV meant no video games, exactly what he needed. His life was pathetic enough without his games but now losing his only distraction in life, he had to live like any normal people and listen on what her sister asked him.

"Fine. Get in the van while I get the keys." He told her before he stood up to go up to her mother's room to search for the keys of the old van stored inside the garage, the van been there since his father had left the family similar to a memento with the need to get rid of but never enough courage to throw away something from the time his family was happy and content. He walked up the stairs, taking his sweet time only to annoy his sister even more just like she did to him, he reached his mother's room and entered. The loud squeaky sound of the door echoed inside the house, too loud for anyone to hear, he glanced around the room.

Lime green wallpaper caught his gaze, he blinked twice to see if he what was seeing was what he thought it was, and surreal was what it was. It seem remembering a lost memory, the same wallpaper both of his parents had before they divorced and the same comfy bed he used to sleep in when he was a child and had nightmares about evil Teletubbies that came for him at night. He had nightmares about them because of his stupid friend, who made him watch Teletubbies at night.

Coffee scent still lingered in the room, every time his father brought a cup of coffee to his room to keep him awake to read his client's testimony before presenting it in court the next morning and once he asked why he stood up late and he responded with, "I bring justice just like Superman but in an efficient way without physically battling bad guys" even at a young age, he understood what his father spoke of. Shintaro took after his father in seeing the logical explanation for anything instead of believing on the paranormal like silly ghost and fictional monsters and Momo took after her mother, who wanted to see people smile but in different ways. His mother as a nurse, who save lives and saw people happy, while his daughter was an idol, who people admired and looked up to.

Beside the bed stood an empty nightstand, his father used all the time to place everything he had to work on that day, once he had mess with the papers by organizing them in order in alphabetical order just like they taught him in school although his father didn't appreciated much at first. Shintaro got scolded by him but later on the day, his father was grateful he had done that because of Shintaro, he found a lost document he needed to break through.

Everything gave off the feeling of those happy days his family used to have before his father had the at audacity to bring his other woman to the house to introduce to his family and gave the divorce papers to her mother to sign, his heartless actions made his mother be depressed for weeks until she saw no point in crying over a man who had left her and signed the papers away. Speaking about their father was a taboo among their family and even a bigger problem to talk about it in front of their mother, who Shintaro still believed haven't gotten over his father. He despite his father for making his life worse than it was and leaving the emotional baggage on them that they could not get rid of.

He walked slowly to the closet and opened the closet door without any remorse of looking in her mother's closet because he knew her mother was too nice to get mad at them, he searched inside the closet for the object he was trying to find. At the bottom of the closet lay a shoe box filled with everything his father had left that day but only the smaller and important things that his mother could not part with. He opened the box and looked over the things inside and not spending too much time observing what his mother had in the box until his eyes caught the shiny old keys of the van, he never though he would have to use it but it was about time to forget about the past and move on.

"Shintaro! Hurry up, I want to get at her house before grandma leaves for Bingo night and takes Marry with her." His sister shouted at him."I'm coming. I'm coming!" He looked at the door one more time before he ran downstairs without looking back.

* * *

"Dear, how was the session with the doctor? Did you guys get far or did even have time to talk? Takane, are you even listening?" Her mom asked right as she entered the car, her mom had to run an errand and couldn't wait in the waiting room for her like she did every time. Takane didn't mind that but what bother her was she could just ask her therapist instead of her, he could explain everything they did in there and of course, tell her mom how mess up Takane was but instead she prefer asking her and get only an awkward silence and a smile.

Dr. Tateyama had come with the conclusion that she had a multi personality disorder because of the incident's trauma which she clearly denied, she denied having multiple personalities. She only has different attitude towards different people and she doesn't have a multi personality disorder but the only thing she murmured, "It was boring as always, and shrugged nonchalantly.

Her mom started the car and drove out the large building crowded by other small buildings, her therapist had his office on one of the biggest skyscrapers in the city which was the only thing she liked about coming to the sessions, she loved to watch the clouds and being so close she could almost touch them but of course, it second to playing video games. Today was different, she had seen humongous gray clouds heading toward the city which meant there was a rainstorm coming which lead t-

A nostalgic tune interrupted her thoughts and she looked over to her mother's phone, laying right inside the cup holder, her mom asked her to answer it and she did.

"Moshi Moshi." She answered, feeling her mother's gaze now and then.  
"Hi Takane, its Shintaro's mom. Could I talk to your mother?" Takane motioned to her mom that was from ShinShin's mom and she gestured her to hold the phone while she talked.

"Sure. Just wait a minute." Takane agreed and kept the phone close to her mom's ear so she could hear her friend from work well enough as she drove pass other cars in the highway in speed limit. She scooted all the way to the seat belt and to be in a more comfortable position. Her gaze was focus on the road, and acted like her mom's second pair of eyes while she talked in the phone. But now and then she heard a bit of her mom's conversation and tried to keep up on what she talked about, sure it was intrusive and nosy nether less everything she did had a purpose which was to keep herself from doing anything stupid.

"You been right now? I was about to…are they paying more for this aren't they?" Her mother's voice was full of concern of something, nodding as she listen to Shintaro's mom talk, she had said something about paying more which meant she'll be working.

"Okay. Tell them I'll be there in ten minutes. See you later" Takane's mother ended the call and Takane turned off the phone, placing the phone where it once was in the cup holder, and waited for her mother to speak. Takane hoped she wasn't working, her father was in a business trip in the States while his brother, Haruka, was with some of his friends unlike her, who lived off playing video games and staying inside like a hermit._ Oh God up there somewhere… don't make my day any worst…please._

Takane breathe in before asking the big question. "You're working, aren't you?" Not wasting any time on to get around the question, is either a yes or no, or a "If you know then why do you ask" but the only one who used that one was herself. She waited patiently for her mom, watching how they drove into a certain neighborhood she knew very well and guessed this was her answer. She pulled into the driveway, "I'm sorry honey. But you know we need this money, it for your medication." She explained to her as she were talking to a child which she stopped being a long time ago, Takane gave her a credulous look and grabbed her backpack from the passenger's feet.

"Mom, if having my therapist is so much trouble then let's stop going and it's all free" she snapped back.  
"Takane, please. You need to understand you need your medication no matter what and talking about medication, here I got it before picking you up." She handed her the orange container with the label all about how much and long she should take the pills, Takane took it and looked at it as if it was a dangerous thing.

"You know, it wouldn't kill to spend more time with me and Haruka. Sure you guys have duties but you always put those after the important ones like your family." With that she jumped out of the car and slammed the door hard enough she thought it would fall out but to her relief it didn't.  
Takane hurried to the door and rang the doorbell too many times, knocking as hard as she could so that lazy bum could open the door and her mother's apologetic gaze could stop watching her. She hated being pissed at her mom, seeing how her face fell into a sad smile or a frown that made her heart break but she didn't need a therapist when she knew what was wrong and it wasn't a goddamn disorder. She peeked a bit before the car pulled out the driveway, she caught her mother's sad face and bit her lower lip enough to bring pain and make her remorseful feeling go away.

_I'm sorry, mom..._

* * *

_**A little bit of character development for you guys, I planned to make it a oneshot at first and forgot to put it was complete but then I saw how many people wanted more so I was like "Eh why not?" and made the plot longer. Keep in mind, I might be a little rusty since it's been a while since I actually wrote without being stuck in a writer's block. Thank you for all of your support, I really appreciate it!**_  
_**Reviewing might be a way to encourage me to update faster~!**_


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